Chapter 4 



Wetland Programs That Affect 



the Use of Wetlands 



CHAPTER SUMMARY 



At this time, Federal policies do not deal con- 

 sistently with wedand use. In fact, they affect 

 wetland use in opposing ways. On the one hand, 

 some Federal policies encourage wetland conver- 

 sion by reducing the cost of converting wetlands 

 to other uses, especially agriculture. On the other 

 hand, some wetland use is controlled or managed 

 through acquisition, easements, leases, regulation, 

 and policy guidance. The U.S. Army Corps of En- 

 gineers' program to implement section 404 of the 

 Clean Water Act (CWA) provides the major ave- 

 nue for Federal involvement in controlling the use 

 of wetlands through regulation. However, the 404 

 program regulates only the discharge of dredged 

 or fill material; excavation, drainage, clearing, and 

 flooding of wedands are not covered explicidy. State 

 and local programs as well as private initiadves also 

 directly or indirectly affect the use of wedands in 

 a variety of ways. 



The present administration's goals with respect 

 to wedands are unclear. On the one hand, the U.S. 

 Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) has revised 



its administrative procedures to reduce the regu- 

 latory burden on industry and to increase the role 

 of the States. Some of these changes may have 

 reduced the level of Federal control over wetlands 

 use, although there will never be quantitative data 

 to support this or any other statement made about 

 the effects of these programmatic changes on wet- 

 lands. Administration support for State coastal 

 management programs also has been reduced sig- 

 nificantly, and no funds have been requested in the 

 past 3 years for wetland acquisition. On the other 

 hand, the Department of the Interior proposed a 

 bill, Protect Our Wedands and Duck Resources Act 

 (POWDR). This bill proposed eliminating some 

 Federal expenditures for some wetland activities, 

 increasing funding to States for wetland conserva- 

 tion, extending the Wetlands Loan Act (due to ex- 

 pire in September 1984) for 10 years, and increas- 

 ing revenues for the Migratory Bird Conservation 

 Fund through additional fees for duck stamps and 

 wildlife refuge visitation permits. 



FEDERAL PROGRAMS 



The use of wetlands in the United States is af- 

 fected either direcdy or indirecdy by a large number 

 of Federal, State, local, and private programs. This 

 section briefly describes these programs, with em- 

 phasis on the more important Federal programs. 



Regulatory Permitting Programs 



Section 404 



Section 404 of CWA, as amended in 1977 from 

 the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), 

 is the primary means of Federal involvement in con- 



trolling the use of wetlands. In brief, persons seek- 

 ing to conduct activities that would result in the 

 discharge of dredged and fill material into "waters 

 of the United States" first must apply for and ob- 

 tain a permit from the local district office of the 

 Corps. Some activities are specifically exempted; 

 others are covered by general permits that require 

 no applications for individual permits. 



There are fundamental differences in the way 

 Federal agencies and various special interest groups 

 interpret the intent of section 404, which as stated 

 in the preface to CWA, is to "restore and main- 



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